[Enter the contest to win one of two vinyl merch goodie packs from Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters by leaving a comment on this post. Make sure your email address is in the form provided so I can contact you if you win. That’s it.]

There are two facts you should know going into the video below. First, Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters are fucking awesome, though if you don’t know that, you will soon enough. Second, döner is Turkish street meat. Sometimes gross Turkish street meat. It’s sold in London and elsewhere in small shops with rotating slabs of wrong-looking product from which the meat is cut off in slices and served in pita in styrofoam trays. It is not the kind of thing one should or would eat while sober. It is the kind of thing you might regret later regardless of your level of lucidity. It’s like a gyro, but not a gyro the way Chinese dumplings aren’t ravioli. Okay.

But not to stray too far from the first point, Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters — who are right up there with the finest executions of the UK’s silly-long-names-for-really-good-bands program — made their awaited full-length debut over the summer through Riff Rock Records with the charmingly titled Come and Chutney, a collection of eight blazed-out rockers fueled by sludge fuckall, tight grooves like those of “Cojones Feos” or the flatulence-laden “Gutlads” and an underlying current of punk and filthy thrash in cuts like “Krones of the Kiln” and “Döner Trump” that set up the sprawling stoner exploration of the finale “Psychedelic Hallucinogenic Vagrancy.” Opening with nasty intentions quickly on “Doggy Bad of Slurry,” it’s an album willfully crass that nonetheless makes its case via songwriting and the grit of its tones. Comprised of guitarist/vocalist Owen Carty, bassist Will Hart and drummer Mark Buckwell, Chubby Thunderous slush and stomp their way through all manner of much and bodily fluids in order to make their point, but there’s no questioning they do precisely that. Building on the accomplishments of their 2015 debut EP, Earth Hog (review here), and their 2017 split with Ten Foot Wizard (review here), the three-piece arrive at their first long-player with a firm sense of who they are as a band and exactly the kind of sonic mayhem they want to cause.

One of the best debuts of 2018? Absolutely. Because while the outward aesthetic may be one of destructive disaffection, the foundation from which Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters execute that is more than solid enough to sustain them. They’re not a sloppy band, as the tense, drum-led rhythm and low-end air-push of “Gawdless” shows,” and though Carty‘s vocals are a harsh, bad-drug sneer throughout, they’re not completely void of melody either, even when they might otherwise be, on the nod-inducing “Glue Ear” or the thrust of the aforementioned “Döner Trump,” which seems to bask in multi-tiered disgust at its subject matter. Further, when they arrive at “Psychedelic Hallucinogenic Vagrancy,” its departure isn’t completely without preface thanks to the subdued launch of “Doggy Bad of Slurry,” though where it heads from there, with the Mellotron and guest appearances from Vodun‘s Chantal Brown, Ten Foot Wizard‘s Gary Harkin and Thom Carter of Riddles, is most definitely in a sphere of its own as regards the rest of the record, pulling back on tempo and passing the 10-minute mark with an open vibe and pervasive swirl of wah. Given the aggression of so much of what surrounds, it’s hard to believe at first, but by the time Brown‘s operatics arrive circa four minutes in, yeah, it’s for real. While we’re talking highlights, the subsequent verse Brown carries is a gem, and the instrumental buildup that follows, with the keys/synth adding to the wash along with the vocals cutting through, is a fitting end both to the track and the record as a whole. I’m not gonna say Chubby Thunderous aren’t fucking around on Come and Chutney. They are, to be sure. That doesn’t change the quality of the results.

For those of us who haven’t had the pleasure of seeing the band on stage, they have a new live video for “Döner Trump” filmed at The Black Heart in Camden Town, which, so far as I know, hasn’t changed its policy about letting even well-supervised babies hang out at the bar downstairs. So it goes. Still a great place to see a show, and from the looks of things, Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters put on a hell of a one. If you find yourself at any point going “eww” as regards their general sound, that’s the idea, but I suspect that if you haven’t encountered them before — and you probably have by now, I know; but just in case — the energy with which they bring “Döner Trump” to bear is no less infectious than the song itself. And these dudes certainly do seem to be infected.

If you want the vinyl — and you do — leave a comment on this post to get it and I’ll hit you up if you win. No, I’m not gonna keep your email address and blah blah blah all that shit. Either way, please enjoy:

[Enter the contest to win one of two vinyl merch goodie packs from Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters by leaving a comment on this post. Make sure your email address is in the form provided so I can contact you if you win. That’s it.]

You give me this and I’ll give it to someone who needs it, ‘cos I’ve got and reviewed it already (see link, I was on the preorders). Ridiculously good band and album. (I’ll keep the merch bits though, chubby merch YEAH)

Hey, got the band on my radar since your review of their split with Ten foot Wizard!
Great band – gonna try to have them on our next Sauzipf Rocks Festival.
Vinyl would be very welcomed ;-)
Great work as always,
cheers,